Audit Suggests Maryland Crack Down on Insurance Scofflaws

December 20, 2004

Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administration needs to beef up computer security and do a better job of suspending vehicle registrations when owners allow their insurance to lapse, according to a new audit of the state agency.

Those were among the findings reported in an audit of the MVA’s operations during 2001, 2002 and 2003.

The MVA generally agreed with the findings in the audit report and said steps are being taken to correct the problems.

State law requires the MVA to suspend immediately the registration of any vehicle if insurance is canceled or allowed to lapse, but the agency generally has waited 120 days to enforce the insurance requirement, the audit said. The report said the agency has generally waited 60 days before sending notice to the vehicle owner and then often gave owners 60 days to notify the MVA if they had insurance on the vehicle.

Administration response
In a response to the audit, the MVA said when it established the policy, it took into consideration the fact that insurance companies have 45 days to notify the administration when new coverage is established.

“The administration will strive to reduce the delay in notifying vehicle owners and to subsequently suspend the vehicle registration in a more timely manner,” the response said.

The auditors found potential problems with computer security, including inadequate review of changes made to critical mainframe files and inadequate restrictions on access to data on the main computer.

In its reply, the MVA said it restricted access to the mainframe database beginning Oct. 14 and will implement procedures to ensure review of all security reports reflecting direct changes to critical MVA production files by March 31.

The audit raised questions about the database of driving records, noting that 2,800 records contained duplicate Social Security numbers. The MVA response said the duplicates resulted from people changing names.

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